The average price of a property in Johannesburg is three times the average in Soweto, while Durban’s average property price is double that of Umlazi. The gap between Cape Town and Khayelitsha is much more pronounced at seven times.
“Townships like Soweto, Umlazi and Khayelitsha reflect South Africa’s urban reality in ways that city skylines cannot,” said Hayley Ivins-Downes, Lightstone Managing Executive Real Estate & Director at Prop Data.
“While each carries the weight of inequality and historic disadvantage, they are also centres of growth, resilience and entrepreneurship.”
According to Ivins-Downes, Soweto’s scale and maturity give it an edge in income and property value, but Khayelitsha’s rapid growth highlights the pull of the Western Cape.
“Understanding these dynamics is critical, because the future of South Africa’s property market is as much about our townships as it is about our cities,” she said.
Despite the fact that townships are home to significant portions of the urban population, they are often left out of property conversations.
To help address this gap, Lightstone used the three provinces with the highest GDP and then identified the largest cities before selecting the most populous township in each.
Data was then examined to compare the townships’ population size, household income, property values, and property transfer activity.
Soweto, near Johannesburg, is South Africa’s most well-known township, home to around 1.5 million people.
Its roots can be traced back to the early 1900s, before it was formally named South Western Township in 1963. Today, it’s known for its vibrant cultural life and thriving tourism industry.
Umlazi, located in Durban, has around 486,000 residents and features a mix of urban development and poverty. Umlazi was created in the 1960s and is Durban’s largest township.
Khayelitsha, on Cape Town’s outskirts, is one of the fastest-growing townships and has around 520,000 residents.
The township is characterised by informal housing and strong grassroots activism. Importantly, Khayelitsha is the youngest of the three townships, founded only in the mid-1980s as an apartheid-era relocation zone.
Despite challenges like unemployment and crime, these three townships are hubs of innovation, culture, and emerging entrepreneurship, and play an important role in the country’s evolving urban landscape.
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